1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved, manually actuated, hydraulic device to provide a penile erection for human males who suffer the dysfunction of erectile impotence.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The normal male achieves an erection when a multitude of small blood vessels within a long cylindrical section on each side of the penis, called the corpus cavernosum, fill with blood as a result of an increase in the vessels' output resistance to blood flow. There are two such parallel cylinders in the penis (the plural being the corpora cavernosa) which simultaneously become engorged with blood, thereby producing a penile erection. Unfortunately, there are in the United States alone, 10 million men who are unable to achieve a penile erection.
There are many causes for impotency in the human male, both psychological and physiological. Among the physiological causes are: long term diabetes, damage to the spinal cord, multiple sclerosis, a surgical procedure in the lower abdomen that has caused nerve damage in the genital region, and advanced age. Such impotence often destroys the male's psychological well being, and often seriously disrupts or even causes the dissolution of an otherwise fulfilling relationship. It is therefore not surprising to find that the patent art is replete with examples of artificial penile erection devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,931, issued to Fischell on Dec. 24, 1985, describes a penile erection device that is improved by eliminating a pump in the scrotum and by effecting the desired pumping action with a single thrust. This invention still requires two parts of the system to be implanted outside of the penis itself. The disadvantage of this desiqn is that it requires more extensive surgery as compared with implanting only one part of the system outside of the corpus cavernosum.
A patent application by Fischell, Ser. No. 526,893, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,242 filed Aug. 26, 1983, describes two parts of a penile erection device that are located outside of the penis itself. This device utilizes a vapor-pressure actuated mechanism that eliminates manual pumping to effect the erectile state. This invention also requires two parts of the system to be implanted outside the corpus cavernosum of the penis.
Another application by Fischell, Ser. No. 563,455, filed Dec. 20, 1983, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,168, describes a vapor-pressure actuated penile erection device and method in which the fluid reservoir is vapor-pressure actuated. The fluid reservoir has a significant volume limitation in that the entire reservoir must be contained within the root of the corpus cavernosum. Furthermore, there must be two separate reservoirs, one in each of the two corpora cavernosa of the penis. The small size of the root of the corpus cavernosum definitely limits the reservoir fluid volume that can be driven into the pendulous portion of the penile cylinder which, therefore, significantly limits the increase in girth of the penis that is obtainable for the erect state.